Transit advocates suggest bus alternatives to L train

In order to avoid chaos in 2019, when the L train stops running between Brooklyn and Manhattan for 18 months, the MTA should consider running buses on dedicated lanes from Williamsburg to midtown and downtown Manhattan.

That’s one of the principal suggestions contained in a “community consensus proposal” released Tuesday by the Regional Plan Association and the Riders Alliance.

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In the ongoing absence of a formal havoc mitigation plan from the MTA and New York City’s transportation department (that will be released by January 2018, at the latest, according to the MTA) transit advocates have been working overtime to come up with ideas of their own.

There's talk of a "transitway" along 14th Street that's dedicated to pedestrians, cyclists and buses, instead of cars. There's talk of high occupancy vehicle restrictions on the Williamsburg Bridge.

And in this latest report, there's talk that the state-controlled MTA and the city transportation department should introduce new rapid bus service that runs on dedicated busways from a new station in Williamsburg to Midtown East, Midtown proper, Midtown west, and lower Manhattan.

The bus depot would take shape at Macri Triangle, a small park at the intersection of Metropolitan, Union and Meeker avenues in Williamsburg.

An "all-weather shelter" with “distinctive architecture”, something “more akin to a station head house” would sit at the center of the triangle. From the triangle, buses would pick up subway riders from the Lorimer Street/Metropolitan Avenue subway station and feeder bus routes. The buses would then drive on dedicated bus lanes over the Williamsburg Bridge, where they would head either north or south, also on dedicated bus lanes.

Some of the buses could run up First Avenue, then head west on the hoped-for 14th Street transitway to Sixth and Eighth Avenues, where they could run uptown to Midtown and Midtown west.

“The idea is that, once you transfer at Lorimer, you can get to the Midtown east bus, the Midtown west bus,” said Richard Barone. “That’s the upside of buses, that we can actually create more one-seat rides.”

Every weekday, 225,000 New Yorkers travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn using the L line.

When, starting in 2019, that connection closes for 18 months for Hurricane Sandy-related repairs, subway riders will have to find alternate ways to commute. And the city and state will have to help them do so, which is no easy task.

Every rush hour L train carries about 2,000 people. To carry the same number of people would require five ferries, 18 long buses, 668 carpools of at least three people, or 2,002 single occupancy cars, according to the report.